Maybe because Christmas is a time for giving, my thoughts have turned to all those possessions of Bob's that were 'gifted' to his family. That is, the ones that he hadn't just borrowed from them in the first place.
Without getting bogged down in endless nuances of trust law again, as far as I can see a trust is a vehicle all on its own. Once you put everything in there, you can't just start taking bits and pieces out willy nilly. The whole purpose of a trust is to keep the taxman away, but to ensure that, you have to make sure what goes in the trust, stays in the trust.
Now I thought, when you put a property and its contents in a trust - like Carnation Drive - that's where it stays. But it hasn't in this case, has it? The memorabilia list tells us so. So, just taking a couple of valuable things; the classic car went to AH, the stamp and coin collections to his children and the kruggerands to JUM?
I don't get this. Were all those items part of the trust or not? If they've all been distributed to individuals, then surely the trust has lost ownership and how will that be reconciled in the accounts? If they were not part of the trust and Bob made an individual will stating who those items were to go to, why wasn't that will produced?
Does this mean the conservators have a duty to estimate the value of those trust items that have been given away, and replace their monetary value into the trust? If not, what else can be given away? The houses? The investments? Also -call me cynical if you like-but apart from the words of Bob's daughters, is there any other proof out there that Bob did want his possessions distributed in this way, or that the items they said belonged to them, really did?
Anyway, if it is possible to make individual gifts from the trust, it would be a nice gesture if Mrs Harrod was gifted Carnation Drive for Christmas. After all, it is her and Bob's marital home. And no-one should know for certain that Bob isn't coming home for Christmas, should they?
